Flying High

Show Support By Flying Our Flag In Proper Manner

February 15, 1991|By JILL KEECH Staff Writer

Drive down any street, U.S.A., and American flags are flying in profusion. "People want to show their support for the troops," says retired Army Col. Cornelius Rinker of Newport News, referring to the conflict in the Persian Gulf.

Rinker, for one, flies his flag during peacetime as well as during war. "It represents my country," he says simply.

While there is nothing difficult about displaying the flag, certain etiquette has evolved. According to the 1988 edition of the Encyclopedia Americana, the American Legion sponsored a meeting on Flag Day (June 14) in 1923 in Washington, D.C. Sixty-eight patriotic organizations participated, producing a code for the display and use of the American flag. In 1942, Congress approved the rules of etiquette, rules that were amended in 1976.

FOR THE RECORD - Published correction ran Sunday, September 16, 2001.In Saturday's Local section, a list of rules for displaying the American flag incorrectly referred to an all-weather flag as an all-cotton flag. All-weather flags are made of non-absorbent material. (Text corrected.)

Civilians interested in displaying the American flag should follow the provisions of the Federal Flag Code contained in the U.S. Code:

* When the American flag is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from a window sill, balcony or in front of a building, the flag's union, or blue field, should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half-staff.

* When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the building.

* The union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right - to the observer's left - when the American flag is displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall.

* When displayed in a window, the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union to the left of the observer in the street.

* The flag is customarily displayed between the hours of sunrise and sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. The flag may be displayed during the hours of darkness provided it has a direct light shown upon it.

* When the American flag is displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, it takes the place of prominence and should therefore be to the right of the other flag (to the observer's left), and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.

* The American flag should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of states or localities, or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.

* When flags of states, cities or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard, or rope, with the flag of the United States, the latter should be at the peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the American flag should be hoisted first and lowered last.

No such flag or pennant may be placed above the American flag or to the American flag's right. However, if the highest pole is in the center, the American flag will go in the center position. The state flag would take the next position of prominence, followed by cities and organizational flags.

* When flags of two or more nations, including the United States, are displayed, they are to be of equal size and should be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The American flag will take the place of precedence at the extreme right and other national flags will be displayed in alphabetical order to the left of the American flag.

* The flag is flown at half-staff by order of the president upon the death of principal figures of the U.S. government and the governor of a state or territory. In the event of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff according to presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law.

If a state government official dies, the governor may proclaim that the American flag be flown at half-staff within that state.

* When flown at half-staff, the flag should be first hoisted momentarily to the peak, then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should again be raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day.

On Memorial Day, the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff.

Out of further respect for the flag, remember the following, also from the Flag Code:

* Do not let the flag touch anything beneath it, like the ground, the floor, water or merchandise.

* Do not carry the flag flat or horizontally. Carry it aloft and free.

* Hoist the flag briskly. Lower it ceremoniously.

* Do not leave the flag out in bad weather unless it is an all-weather - made of non-absorbent material - flag.

* The flag should never be displayed with the union down except as a signal of dire distress.

* The flag should never be used for wearing apparel.

* Worn-out, tattered flags should be destroyed, preferably by burning.

Failure to follow these rules of flag etiquette is no crime; the Flag Code contains no provision for penalties when the flag is incorrectly displayed. However, improper display or defacement of the flag out of disrespect, or for commercial purposes, may be violations of state law. Such incidents could be reported to the state attorney general's office in Richmond, according to Alice Westbrook, protocol officer at Fort Eustis.